What if neighbours worked together to make solar, battery backup, and home electrification easier and more affordable?
I'm exploring a community-led model for Ottawa that focuses on transparency, resilience, and reducing costs through neighbourhood-scale adoption.
No sales pitches. No exclusive vendors. Just neighbours helping neighbours make informed decisions.
https://mgifford.github.io/neighbourhood-solar/
#Ottawa #SolarEnergy #ClimateAction #EnergyResilience #OpenSource
@mgifford I love this! Community-focused work and educating on electrification, without unnecessary pressure, sounds like a great idea.
Nice work putting the website together. It looks great and is really clear
@jrhawley You might like the links I've added here: https://github.com/mgifford/neighbourhood-solar/wiki
Thanks again for your support.
@mgifford in the US there is a charity called Solar United Neighbors that helps communities form co-ops to group purchase solar. A similar idea, maybe worth a look for ideas. I joined my local group to install solar and batteries on my old house.
There are local energy co-operatives that have been crowd-funding using Bond Issues via Ethex:
@BillySmith I've added it here https://github.com/mgifford/neighbourhood-solar/wiki
Thanks!
@mgifford are you familiar with the work of Olympia Community Solar?
they're doing great work
I was an investor in an early project
@mgifford note that the Greener Homes Grant project is no longer active :( There's really not a lot currently of incentives available for installing solar that help with the up front costs, as far as I could tell when I looked into it recently.
Also are you familiar with OSEAN?
https://ottawasouthecoactionnetwork.squarespace.com/
Also For Our Kids Ottawa
https://www.forourkids.ca/ottawa_gatineau
The Ottawa South Eco-Action Network is a group of volunteers working to better the environment in Ottawa South and beyond. We support local residents who are taking action to become low waste households, protect green spaces and wildlife, combat climate change, and advocate for all levels of governm
@mgifford The group-buying initiative local to me helped me get solar. Another link for the wiki, unfortunately US-based, is https://switchtogether.com (related to the Solar United Neighbors (SUN) link someone else posted). But probably similar information about the group-buying process.
It seems the efforts through this initiative went through a city government sustainability group. And they're also partnering with SUN this year, and it’s about a 20% sales discount as opposed to the 30% US federal tax credit that ended last year.
I’m surprised at the low amount of program participants since...
@mradcliffe there has been a lot of FUD.
Thanks for the link.
Mike Gifford, CPWA
James Hawley
Problem Fox
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Billy Smith
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